Category: Uncategorized

Chine McDonald, professional Christian

And in the Big News today from a Faith Perspective, doubt. Pope Francis mentioned doubt. That’s the news bit.

Do you sometimes doubt the very existence of the Invisible Magic Friend? Does it all seem so inconsistent and self-contradictory? Do you have doubts because it all seems so very, very unlikely? Do you have doubts because there isn’t a single piece of verifiable evidence for any of it? Does the fact that the Invisible Magic Friend only ever answers prayers at a rate no better than his non-existence would imply, make you doubt? Does the fact that the proud and boastful prosper, while the meek and humble struggle, give you doubt? Does the fact that belief leads to so much division and conflict give you doubt?

That’s where faith comes in. If you can ignore all of the above then you’ve got faith. The churches are all increasingly packed full of people with faith.

And that is the end of the Big News today from a Faith Perspective.

https://mega.nz/file/VuMGFYyS#UKvR1yFp4glsmzX4ZrfKYPXW8PYXc0y4fGS6qBCyxbM

Ex-Rev Canon Angela Tilby, Christ Church Cathedral Oxford

And in the Big News today from a Faith Perspective, Happy St George’s Day everybody! Christianity is central to being English. Christians invented law and order, music, science, the Big Book of Magic Stuff in English (i.e. the correct version), and everything else that makes a society function in a proper English fashion.

Your welcome.

I say this in a totally unbiased, non-proselyting, non-nationalistic way.

https://mega.nz/file/Rm8nmIoQ#gYA4pGswmdsXpfwd2wsXkPN-pDL-oJApVr5mxnWiNYM

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, who could be Pope one day

Today I’m going to talk about an actual news story. Not what was on the telly last night. Not some obscure religious festival that no one but its adherents care about. Not some ancient anniversary. Not some abstract concept. I’m talking about a real, contemporary, live news headline that’s in all the papers and websites and newscasts. One where Thought for the Day can really shine. Where a person of faith can bring their unique insight to bear in a way that no mere secular presenter ever could.

So in the Big News today from a Faith Perspective, Pope Francis is dead. Wasn’t he just brilliant.

And that is the end of the Big News today from a Faith Perspective.

Please, applause is unnecessary, but thank you, thank you, thank you…

I could be Pope soon you know.

https://mega.nz/file/BjEFCB4b#fD6RqioABWJrq2itkbijZ7d0_qravQuU-IhunFurSM0

Rev Canon Dr Jennifer Smith, Superintendent minister at Wesley’s Chapel and Leysian Mission

And in the Big News today from a Faith Perspective, the Temporarily Visible Third of the Invisible Magic Friend, who was temporarily sacrificed to himself to save us from himself, is risen. Hurrah.

I love children’s stories because they usually have happy endings. Some even have a resurrection in them. But these are just made up stories for children. They’re not real, like the Jesus story that we adults know about is.

It’s because of this infallible instinct for detecting fiction that you can always trust we Christians when we tell you something is true.

https://mega.nz/file/8idUHajS#w-TSO9I2Ays6vuBN1TONbjCGrJU9mczc13fmIMAXCxI

Tycho and the Terminator

The “terminator” in this case is not some sci-fi sounding robotic killer. Instead, it is the line that marks the sunlit from the dark part of the moon. As it moves across the moon’s surface each month it has a dramatic effect on what is visible.

Here, for example, is Tycho crater, taken on 11 April.

Tycho is the centre of the large “splash” in the middle of this photo. Large rays of ejected material, resulting from the impact that caused the crater, are clearly visible, extending over a thousand miles in all directions.

Yet when we look at the same crater a few days earlier, the scene is completely different.

Tycho is more to the left in this picture. The rays are much less pronounced, with some of them barely visible. Instead, the crater walls and central mount are much clearer. These two photos barely even look like the same moon.

As I’ve pointed out before, even over a single night, the terminator moves visibly across the moon’s surface. It is this constant interplay of light and shadow that makes photographing the moon so endlessly fascinating.

Moon Mini-Phases

You can read more about Tycho crater on Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_(lunar_crater)